The calendar says 2012, but it may as well be 1975. The Big Ten is all about Michigan and Ohio State on this Signing Day, hearkening to days of the “Big Two and the Little Eight.” Only in today’s world, it’s the “Big Two and the Little 10.” According to Scout.com, Ohio State and Michigan dominated the Big Ten in recruiting.

There’s a designer out there, Charles Sollars, who is designing FAUX Nike Pro Combat helmets for BCS conference schools. While the helmets are just concepts and something he does as a hobby, I assume, they’re still really fun for all of us to consider and critique. Many of the lids are pretty cool, too. He has a design for every Big Ten school — some good, some ridiculous — and you can see them in this post.

A great class for Pat Fitzgerald and company. Ohio linebacker Ifeadi Odenigbo is one of the Wildcats’ highest rated signees over the last few years. He has 4.5 speed and great pass rush ability. Four-star offensive lineman Adam DePietro spurned many other offers to sign with Northwestern, as did several of his future teammates, Ian Park, Kenton Playko, Eric Olson and Connor Mahoney.

Illinois picked up a much needed home victory over Michigan State, and Illini fans would probably appreciate if the discussion ended right there. It was about as ugly as basketball can get, with turnovers and missed shots aplenty. The Spartans had more missed shots than points, and their 26.7 effective field goal percentage represented the program’s worst shooting night in at least 15 seasons (I only have eFG data back to 1997-98). To top it all off, conference player of the year contender Draymond Green, who hadn’t played anyway much due to foul trouble, left the game late with an apparent injury. Green has been diagnosed with a sprained left knee and is considered day-to-day, which is certainly better than many of the possible alternatives.

LeBron James’ ridiculous dunk against Chicago on Sunday and Blake Griffin’s silly slam against Oklahoma City on Monday got us thinking about the best dunks of the 2011-12 Big Ten season. Rodney Williams, Victor Oladipo and Sam Thompson’s highlights immediately come to mind, but there have been so many other memorable dunks. See my top 10 slams in this post. Did I forget a dunk? If so, click “other” on the poll or enter your selection in the comment box at the bottom of this post. Also, check out a collection of our dunk-centric highlights with our Did You See This? archive.